Walnuts Update:
January 2007
Supplies are extremely tight with little or no Combination material appearing to be available. Further, due to the higher than normal ratio of halves to pieces being realized during shelling, pieces are selling at a premium (Piece prices have already climbed above the $3.00/lb mark). To satisfy their industrial ingredient customers, the industry will have to dice Light Halves to make pieces. The cost of doing so could force prices even higher. We await Industry shipment Numbers.
September 2005
Walnut production in California will set a record this year, according to the 2005 California Walnut Objective Measurement Survey Report. Farmers should harvest 340,000 tons of walnuts, a 5% increase from last year. More walnut trees have come into production this year and the average number of nuts per tree has risen slightly.
September 2004
The 2004 California Walnut production is forecast at 325,000
tons, down from 2003's record production of 326,000 tons.
This forecast is based on the 2004 Walnut Objective Measurement (O.M.) Survey,
which was conducted July 26 through August 24, 2004.
The Walnut Marketing Board has reported that California walnut
production for
the 2003 crop is 324,077 tons. The Hartley crop came in at 63,290 tons, down
6.7 percent, but somewhat higher than the 60,000 ton estimate in the Objective
Measurement by the California Agricultural Statistics Service. We continue
to see growth in the newer higher yielding varieties, including Howard and
Chandler, as more orchards come into production.